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keyhole

Noun
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The aperture in a lock designed for a key; frequently serves in poetry as a motif of secrecy, exclusion, or stealthy observation.

Detailed Definition
A keyhole is the opening in a lock for a key. Stevenson personifies the sun as something that can enter “through the keyhole,” making the house seem permeable to light.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess,” a watcher glimpses private life “through the keyhole” in dramatic-monologue fashion; “The dusty attic, spider-clad, / He, through the keyhole, maketh glad” uses the keyhole as a narrow viewpoint; A keyhole can symbolize secrecy or restricted knowledge in a gothic lyric; In a contemporary scene, “Through the keyhole, one bright room / withheld its answer” makes the object an image of exclusion
Additional Notes
“keyhole” is a concrete but somewhat specialized household word, and the image “through the keyhole” may make readers stop to identify it.; Found in the poem, Summer Sun by Robert Louis Stevenson
Also Known As
peephole viewfinder portal glimpse
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